There's a new twist in a controversy involving bulletproof vests and money problems in Norwood.

"It looks bad all the way around. It seems like there's a lot of, you know, finger pointing going on," Norwood Police Chief Bill Kramer said. "I don't know where it stands. I saw the letter last night and was a little, for lack of a better word, more or less flabbergasted."

But Ken Crawford, a former Norwood mayoral candidate who plans to run again, disagrees and blames Norwood's current mayor and council for mismanaging the city's finances.

"I think at some point the citizens of this city need to start asking the question that maybe at what point does incompetence become fraud," Crawford said.

Chief Kramer said he isn't trying to place blame. He just wants a solution that keeps his officers and Norwood residents safe.

"Council, they're good people. You know, I just think there's, maybe, a lack of communication somewhere," Kramer said. "I believe they're supportive of the Police Department. Hopefully we can work through this and get beyond it."

He didn't want to go on camera to discuss the auditor's letter or the confusion surrounding the bulletproof vests.

Instead, he took aim at Ken Crawford saying, "It's harder for some to accept they lost." It was a reference to last year's mayoral race which saw Williams edge Crawford to win reelection.

Dykes also reached out to all Norwood council members. Only one weighed in on the controversy involving bulletproof vests.

In a statement Norwood Councilman James Bonsall said, "We have great new council members from both parties. We are working together in a bipartisan manner to find ways to address some of the systemic issues that have led the city to our current financial situation. Even though the departments are responsible for knowing what's in their own budgets, I think everybody involved will agree with me that we can all learn lessons from this situation to prevent the confusion from happening again."